“Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are. ”
—Eckhart Tolle
How expectations hinder and help creativity
When you go into a project (or start working on something) with any expectation of how it will turn out, you’re limiting your potential.
Creativity thrives in the unknown. Expecting anything (good or bad) as an outcome of your efforts is locking you into those expectations.
Rather than thinking about how you could try something differently – incorporate something you encounter along the way or even seek outside help, as two examples ” you’re going to be thinking about how to align what you’re doing with what you’re expecting.
Which is a straight path to creative failure.
Instead, envision a broad direction and start moving towards it. If things change half-way through, at least you can adapt. Go into the process of creating with a big healthy dose of uncertainty and be prepared to adjust as necessary.
A better expectation for creative work would then be to simply explore, learn, grow.
